1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to the composition of novelty elastomeric materials such as novelty amorphous putties. The present invention also relates to novelty objects that are internally illuminated.
2. Prior Art Description
Amorphous putties made from the reaction of boric acid and silicon oil have been in existence since the invention of Silly Putty® in 1948. See U.S. Pat. No. 2,541,851 to Wright, entitled Process For Making Puttylike Elastic Plastic Siloxane Derivative Compositions Containing Zinc Hydroxide. Since that time, numerous formulations of amorphous putties have been formulated in order to enhance or diminish certain innate characteristics of the original formulation.
Putties made of boric acid and silicon oil are produced by creating a silicone polymer, via the hydrolysis of dichlorodimethylsilane. This silicone polymer, which contains residual hydroxyl groups, can be cross-linked using boric acid (B(OH)3). The boric acid is a trifunctional acid that forms —Si—O—B-linkages. This produces a peculiar type of putty or gum that can easily stretch when slowly pulled. However, the putty can resiliently resist any sudden deformation formations. As a result, the putty will bounce, rather than deform, when dropped against a hard surface.
Another characteristic of prior art boric acid/silicon oil putties are that the putties are uniformly opaque. Although the putties can be dyed different colors, no boric acid/silicon oil putty formulations have been created in the prior art that are either transparent or translucent.
There are many toy novelties that contain internal lights. For example, there are internally illuminated golf balls, footballs, and soccer balls that are commercially available. Many of these novelty products use internal illumination modules. The illumination modules contain the light source and batteries needed to power the light source. Internal illumination modules have even been inserted into novelty items molded from elastomeric co-block polymers. Such prior art is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,869, to Chernick, entitled Internally Illuminated Elastomeric Novelty Device With External Projections. However, in the prior art, molded elastomeric polymers are not amorphous. Although such elastomeric polymers can be stretched, those elastomeric polymers are molded into a specific shape and return to that specific shape after being stretched. Conversely, amorphous putties are not molded and are incapable or retaining any one shape. Since amorphous putties cannot be molded into a shape, amorphous putties cannot be molded into shapes that have internal pockets for holding an illumination module. Due to the amorphous nature of the putty, features such as on/off switches would become inaccessible as the putty reshapes around an illumination module.
The present invention system utilizes a novelty putty that is translucent and comes with a specially adapted illumination module that can operate while encased within an amorphous putty. The novel details of the invention are described and claimed below.